Performance Evaluation of the Assembly Mechanism for Multimodule Capsule Robots Docking

Even though swallowable capsule endoscopy has many obvious advantages, it has been restricted from further application due to the low diagnostic efficiency. One explanation for this is that the capsule endoscopy is just equipped with image acquisition and transmission functions, which is far from enough to diagnose Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. To improve the detection efficiency of the capsule endoscope, we proposed a concept of multiply module capsule robots and a novel assembly method in the previous research. A further simulation analysis of the assembly mechanism was presented in this paper. By applying a force on the claws, the deformation of the claws under this force is calculated. In the simulation, the claw mechanism with six claws was analyzed, and according to the simulation results, the maximum displacement of the claw tip was 1 mm under the load with a force of 39.42 mN. The results prove the feasibility of the assembly mechanism for docking the robot modules.